It’s time for everyone to take a collective sigh of relieve: The October LSAT is over. By most reports, it wasn’t particularly easy (though it was also pretty standard), so congrats on not passing out in the middle of it and cancelling your LSAT score (yes, there were reports of that happening).

For those of you prepping on the East Coast, you’ll be surprised to go outside and see the leaves changing colors. Yes, summer ended while you were buried under conditional statements, and fall is under way.

For those of you prepping on the West Coast, you’ll be completely unsurprised to go outside and see that it’s still perpetual summer. Enjoy your November tans while the rest of us start packing on that winter weight.

While it’s definitely a good idea to put some time in with your friends, family, and significant others, your journey to law school isn’t over yet. There are still a few things to take care of while waiting for your October LSAT scores to release.

THINGS NOT 100% UNDER YOUR CONTROL TO TAKE CARE OF NOW THAT THE OCTOBER LSAT IS OVER

Letters of Recommendation (LoRs) and transcripts are not completely under your control, so do these first.

Transcripts are sent out by your school, and the process is usually pretty straightforward. Figure out what it is, jump through the hoops, and check in to make sure it’s completed.

LoRs, on the other hand, are going to take a little bit more. Professors are getting inundated with requests, and they’re not particularly quick about writing these to begin with. Get on this as soon as possible. And everything you need to know about law school letters of recommendation can be found here.

THINGS COMPLETELY UNDER YOUR CONTROL TO TAKE CARE OF NOW THAT THE OCTOBER LSAT IS OVER

Essays and applications. Get them done ASAP.

The law school applications themselves are straightforward. After filling out the common info form through CAS, it shouldn’t take you more than 10-20 minutes for each application. While it’s hard to figure out exactly where to apply since you don’t have your LSAT score yet, you can take an educated guess as to the potential range of your performance. Fill out a few applications for schools at the lower and higher ends to account for a potential bad/great day, but you should be targeting schools around your PT average. It’s a short process.

Essays, on the other hand, will take up most of your law school application time. Not necessarily with actually writing them, but with thinking about them, letting them sit for a day or two so you can approach them with a fresh mindset, and giving others time to read and comment on them.

The hardest part of any law school admission essay is coming up with the theme and topic. Don’t rush it; write a few drafts of different essays to see what feels right. You should be looking for something you’re excited to write about and that captures a passion. After getting the theme and topic down this way, write everything you can think on the subject. Then, have others cut down the parts that aren’t interesting or stray from the central message. Do it yourself. Then, edit whatever’s left into an essay.

Again, our LSAT blog is a virtual library of information about how to write your law school personal statement.

The October LSAT is over, and it’s time to return to your regularly scheduled life. But the law school application process isn’t over, and the months can slip by. Start working on these elements now, put in a few hours each week, and you’ll be ready to go when your October LSAT score comes out.

And if it’s not what you want it to be, it’ll be even easier to prep for the December LSAT knowing that your law school applications are ready to go.